jhb171achill

Do you mean the reddish one? Could be one of the two Executive Train coaches. I think the coach at the military platform is one of the 1951-53 CIE stock, based on GSR designs, which were in traffic until the mid 70s to maybe 1980s-ish on passenger trains, with some converted as CIEcoachbuilder says, to luggage vans and also the 32XX series genny standards. There were one or two actual GSR Bredin full brakes which lasted until the 1980s too, on mail trains, but possibly not as late as the post-1987 (IE) period.

Third quarter 2026 is what he told me....

Evidence of this catastrophic political decision spawning even worse offspring….

Indeed; one of the many hangovers of Boris's brexit..... hopefully in the long run these restrictons will be reversed.

We could employ that Scottish consultant to design one, perhaps ….. and he might come up with a 29 class railcar with seven wheels….

When the Malahide Model Railway Museum was in planning stage, Fingal Council had employed a Scottish "consultancy" company to do much of the design and layout work. It was left to me to liase with the representative from this company, who infomed me that he "didn't know the first thing about trains or railway museums". Yup, you heard it. With difficulty, I persuaded him NOT to use a logo for the museum which would have clearly shown an indian "YG" class 2.8.2............................ Yup, you heard that too. I despair.

Absolutely top class stuff. Hope to see it some day!

Grey initially - presumably brown soon after 1970......

Just one to go now! Anyone?

We’ll see how it goes; we’re up to four orders now….

You're on the list, Harry! So we've two now. 4 to go if this is to grow wheels and run.

Right, folks, we’ve info. Allen can do an etch for an Achill D16 for around £70 / €85. It would take only a few weeks once adequate drawings were sourced. I will investigate this. Once I’ve done that, we can talk about money and definite orders. Perhaps if people email or PM me to say they’re definitely in? If this works, a MGWR six-wheeler could be next? (jhb171@gmail.com)

Way more interesting!

Not at all. Furthest south they'd have got to was around Bessbrook, on ballast trains.

One for the road, more recently. We complain about the modern railway now in a number of ways (me included!), but there’s no denying the service is WAY better on most routes. (Limerick - Rosslare & Nenagh branch, and catering (remember that?) excluded!)

I know it's been said before, but the rules seem to change hourly! The whole brexit thing is now seen by most to be the utter, nonsensical disaster that anyone with a bit of wit could have predicted it would be.

Tis exactly what they did! NIR were issuing Lisburn to Connolly returns well into the late 1970s with "U T A" on them!

Very true!

And finally, for tonight, extracts from the DSER winter WTT from 1923. Bear in mind this area was affected more than most by destruction during the civil war.

If anyone ever wants help with a northern address, PM me.

From the Catacombs, while I’m STILL looking for other stuff…. This from the 1894 Dublin, Wicklow & Wexford working timetable, showing the service out of Harcourt Street in that year. Note that New Ross - Wexford (plus, of course, the South Wexford line) is not yet built; these will open over a decade later in 1906. DWWR trains then terminated at Ballywilliam, on the GSWR’s Bagenalstown - Palace East line.

Came across all this stuff while trying to figure out what year Senior visited a couple of places. In the past, as an adolescent, Senior could get free passes to go where he liked, as in "Mr Beaumont's Son" on one below. "H C" was Senior - his father was "H J". Below a very small sample of a number of their free passes, showing just where one could go by rail in the past. Needless to say, on such travels he rarely saw the inside of a carriage; it was usually on the footplate. His notes & diaries, such as he kept them, were brevity in extreme; and are now lost anyway, which is a shame. Often, when posting copies of his pictures, I can only date them by these ticket dates, or a map of his, or memory of what he told me. But - look at the destinations on these. Oh to turn the clock back!

Go for it!

I have sent off a relevant email, so we'll see what the reply is re a brass kit!

I could be wrong on this, but I've a notion one had the front NIR logo in either dark blue or maybe black at one stage, instead of maroon.